Man's Best Friend Detects Blood Sugar Lows & Highs
Posted Dec 19 2008 12:13am
If you're diabetic, it can be quite terrifying to not know when your blood sugar will swing too high or go to low. Granted, you should monitor your diet and exercise, but man's best friend also can come to the rescue.
Indeed, the unique Heaven Scent Paws, a Missouri-based organization incorporated in 2004, provides specially trained diabetic alert dogs, who can help you (if you're diabetic), your partner or other loved ones to detect both hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) and high blood sugar (hyperglycemia).
Almost sounds too good to be true, right? Actually, this is for real.
Heaven Scent Paws puts the dogs' acute olfactory sense to good use. Essentially, specially trained dogs learn to identify a chemical (as yet unnamed) on their master's breath and skin that emerge as soon as the glucose level begins to drop.
If you're diabetic, it can be quite terrifying to not know when your blood sugar will swing too high or go to low. Granted, you should monitor your diet and exercise, but man's best friend also can come to the rescue.
Indeed, the unique Heaven Scent Paws, a Missouri-based organization incorporated in 2004, provides specially trained diabetic alert dogs, who can help you (if you're diabetic), your partner or other loved ones to detect both hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) and high blood sugar (hyperglycemia).
Almost sounds too good to be true, right? Actually, this is for real.
Heaven Scent Paws puts the dogs' acute olfactory sense to good use. Essentially, specially trained dogs learn to identify a chemical (as yet unnamed) on their master's breath and skin that emerge as soon as the glucose level begins to drop.